Disclaimer: I do not own or make any inference that I own Being Human UK or any of its characters.

George was the last to return his gaze to Michael; he was very concerned about Annie and knew this was no time to be snippy or humorous with her. He also knew Mitchell was the reason Annie had just created an artificial tornado in the middle of a 9th floor office. Somehow, George, thought to himself, not only was he going to have to tell Michael that his life was in danger, and that he'd have to come away with perfect strangers so they could protect him, but that he'd first have to convince all the people running towards his office that he was safe and that they should not to contact the police.

"Michael, I need you to listen to me very carefully."George followed Nina

"What the hell was that?" demanded Michael.

There was anger and fear, of course, but also one could detect a bit of wonder in his voice.

Before George could respond Michael's doorway was filled with about several shaken but still curious office workers. George recognized Nancy.

"Mr. Barry are you alright? Do you need any type of assistance?"

"Nancy…" Michael began…

"Michael, you want to listen to me first…"

"Thank you all, for checking on me, Michael said as reassuringly as he could, I... I don't know what happened, but I'm fine and I'll have this all cleaned up before I leave this evening. Nancy, you're free to leave for the day as well as anyone else."

Nancy was about to respond, but Michael stared at her and she and the others hastily left his door.

Michael brushed the paper and all, out of his chair, sat down and without another word fixed his gaze directly on George.

"Ummm, okay, George began somewhat hesitantly, here goes, those men you met today, they weren't your normal ordinary businessmen…"

"What just happened in my office George, why don't we start with that…?"

"Oh right. I guess it's too late for me to say you wouldn't believe me if I told you…"

"I'm listening." Michael prompted.

"Well, you see, it's like this, Myself, Nina, and Tom are all were-wolves. We live with a ghost named Annie and although Mitchell is a baby, he may become a werewolf as well."

"You're each were-wolves, the baby may become a were-wolf later and Annie is a ghost..Michael repeated, while also waiting for George to continue."

"Yes, yes, we're were-wolves, and Annie's a ghost, who happens to be upset at the moment, sometimes it's hard to control her powers."

"That wasn't me not controlling my powers, Annie said to George. I will not have Wyndham take another member of Mitchell's family."

"Listen Michael, Annie's not happy with those men meeting with you today, and she doesn't want you to go away with them after you leave Wales. She doesn't want you to leave Wales at all; in fact we agree with Annie on this and are honestly afraid for you."

"They are vampires Michael, Nina interjected. We understand that this is a lot to take in, but Vampires, Ghosts and Were-wolves, sadly do exist."

George looked over to Annie with her hands crossed around herself and her lips set in a firm line, even-though she was facing the window, he could tell that she was still indeed agitated and would need a few moments more in calming down.

"As I was saying, repeated George, Annie sometimes has trouble controlling her power…she's getting better, but it was the thought of you not knowing the real danger you're in that set her off, she needed to make you listen."

"I was here George, this seems a bit deliberate to me. Is Annie upset with me personally?"

"Yes," Annie said clearly. George tell him, he's got a good life. He may find it all boring, but it's stable, and safe. He doesn't know how good he really has it."

"You know, George began, you've got a really good life Michael…"George tried to repeat.

"Annie's been with me hasn't she George. I mean, she's been following me, here and at my apartment."

"Why would you say that?" asked a very stunned George.

"It's just something I thought to ask…I assume she is the Anna, who's buried next to John Mitchell…"

"Yes, they are one in the same. I have to say Michael; you are being very respectful about all this. I know this is a lot to take in, but we're not making anything up."

As much as Nina was stunned and intrigued by what Michael was saying, she had to get the baby home so he could be cleaned and fed. She knew Annie and George would fill her in on all the particulars. Nina stood, brushed her hair back into some semblance of order and beckoned for Tom to come along so they could leave…

"I'm sorry to have to go, but I think it's best if Tom, me and the baby catch up later and meet you two back at the house…" said Nina.

George would have preferred Nina to stay as she was always sensible, but he did think it was wiser for her and Tom to return to the house now that they all knew Wyndham was active again in their lives.

Annie finally sat down beside George once Nina had made her good-byes.

"Annie, Michael spoke out softly, have you calmed down, or are you still upset with me?"

"Yes…I mean, No, I'm not upset with him. I only wanted him to stop talking so glowingly about Wyndham and his stupid job offer. How does he know I've been following him?"

"Annie says that she's no longer upset with you." George relayed.

"Will she ever speak to me George?"

"I speak to him all the time…"said Annie.

"I mean, I think she speaks to me all the time. I know she hums around me and sometimes, I do think I can see her, but she is very faint. I've never been afraid." Michael said.

"What, George said; you think you can see her?"

"He can see me?" Annie asked incredulously.

Michael smiled a small smile and said, "Well she began appearing right after I met you at the grave-sites. I thought to myself that as John was my ghost and they loved one another that she naturally attached herself to me as well. I asked Mrs. Adams, my land-lady, if she was doing the cooking, and when she said that she wasn't, I knew it was probably Annie."

"Hang on, George said, you think John is a ghost, and he's following you around."

"Mitchell's not a ghost." Annie spoke to Michael, even-though she knew she couldn't be heard.

"Yes, I have a ghost, and I thought John, Michael said pointedly, would be very happy with Annie's company. I've gotten so used to her presence that when I'm visiting mum's grave, I can tell when Annie is beside me and when she leaves to go up the levels to visit with John. I wait around for about 5 minutes after I've finished speaking and then I feel the coldness again, and I know Annie's ready to leave."

"Are you saying you can sense Annie?" George asked.

"No, I can't sense her, but I can tell from the air temperature if she is with me or not. I can tell when she leaves my office and wanders around the bank, I can tell when she leaves my meetings, and I can tell when she sits on the bed while I'm sleeping. I knew John was never with me, really, so it's been nice to have an actual ghost be my guardian angel. I've felt happier and I'm sorry that I've upset her."

"You don't appear to be as surprised or concerned of our existence as I would expect, said George, will you tell us why that is?"

"Well, I suppose, it's time I stopped pretending."

George had to interrupt Michael again because Michael wasn't turning out to be the ordinary bloke they all thought he was as well. "You've been pretending?"

"George, he's not pretending, Annie whispered, he's bonkers."

"George, Michael began, I didn't really forget you. I'm not surprised Mr. Wyndham and his partners are vampires and I'm not surprised the person cooking, cleaning and generally watching over me is a ghost. Ghosts are something my family firmly believes in, and as much as I would not like to be included in that group, they are something I believe in as well."

"Seriously…" George asked amazed.

"Yes, seriously, Michael responded. John Mitchell, my kin, has been my ghost, attached to me, since I was very young. Even-though I've never seen a photograph of him, I know that I look just like him."

"How…" Annie asked, as she was poking George in the arm, so that he could ask for her.

"Ummm, how exactly do you know this? George asked as he was rubbing his very tender arm and giving a stern look to Annie.

"Oh, my family have been telling me since I was a young lad, believe me, I know all about my "special" resemblance. I will say that I was surprised to learn that the rest of you are were-wolves, but as you said many weeks ago, stranger things have happened."

"He knows about me George, he can hear me singing and humming. How…Why…How?" Annie couldn't help herself from yelling.

"What's going on, said George, how do you know these things? Are you a wizard or something?"

"No, Michael laughed shortly, I'm not a wizard. As he began picking up some of the office supplies and paper littering his office, he rhetorically asked if they existed as well. I would like to say that I'm very ordinary, but that wouldn't exactly be true."

"Does he have some mental power? Telepathy perhaps…" Annie asked.

"Four months ago, your friend John Mitchell and my mother both died. My grand-mother Lydia and John Mitchell were cousins."

"Wow, really…"George asked excitedly.

"Yes, really…"

Annie felt it only right to potter around the room helping Michael with the cleaning. Michael stopped for a moment to stare as he saw his stapler moving slowly through the air and settling down onto his desk.

"Thank you Annie." Michael said.

"I'm sorry about the mess. George, tell him that I'm sorry about the mess."

"Annie says she's sorry." George spoke quickly.

"Awww," said Michael, speaking out to the open room, I'm glad you're not angry anymore.

"Michael, George spoke up before Annie could respond, what's this about your grand-mother and Mitchell?"

"Yes, Lydia was 15 years old, only 9 years younger than John, when he went missing, or I should say, when he was turned into a vampire and either killed his men or left them to be killed by others, I'm not too clear on every detail regarding his disappearance…"

"What…what…what are you saying?" George stammered.

Annie wasn't able to say anything helpful to George as she smiling widely as she carried on finishing her cleaning.

"What do you think Annie? Good enough…" Michael asked as he surveyed the room.

"Michael…" George said forcefully as he wanted Michael to continue.

George pulled Annie's hand when she moved closer to him and forced her to sit down next to him.

"I'm saying that I've been running away from John Mitchell all my life."

"But, he's not a ghost." said George.

Michael didn't see anymore movement from the other side of his desk, so he figured that Annie had stopped cleaning and was sitting somewhere in the room. Before Michael continued, he pulled his chair closer to the desk and took a seat as well.

"I can see that you thought you were going to amaze me, and here I've amazed you instead. I have to admit, at first I was confused about certain things mysteriously happening in my life, but it was something I was expecting. I've been running but I suppose you really can't outrun fate."

"Well, you have amazed us, George said as he looked at Annie. You've stunned us actually."

"During my mother's last weeks, I visited with her in hospital every day. Many days, I would find myself lightly dozing in the chair as she slept. One evening, as the news was playing in the background, there came a report about the Box Tunnel killings. The police had caught the murderer, named John Mitchell."

When it appeared as if George was going to speak, Michael held up his hands and continued…

"I know, that's a pretty common name, but I began to really pay attention when the officer proceeded to tell the reporter that the suspect was being un-cooperative, and that he was insisting his date of birth was July 29, 1893. My mother woke up as well. The police weren't able to provide the viewers with any photos, but would, they said, be posting them later that night. My mother and I knew there wouldn't be any photos; we knew that was our John."

"My God, this is simply incredible." said George.

"You all know I'm John's relation. I am the spitting image of him, or so the family have been saying since I was 10 years old, and now so do those men. I've spent many years in the shadows, purposely."

"But Mitchell wasn't a ghost..."insisted George.

"No, but, would you want to be known as the near twin of a vampire, or would it be easier to live with yourself, to say you have a look-a-like uncle who's a ghost following you around instead?"

"Michael, I'm really sorry." George said.

"When the older ones in our town looked at me, that's all they saw was John. John Mitchell, the son who left his mother to be a soldier and never returned, or by a few closer to the family, John Mitchell the son, who left his mother to be a soldier and who returned as a vampire. I was the boy who the neighbors whispered about; wondering when was the day I would turn evil and follow in my cousin's foot-steps."

"Mitchell's family knew he was a vampire?" George asked.

"Turns out John, or Mitchell as you say, wasn't a bad son. When his mother was dying he couldn't resist the urge to visit her. He secretly came back to our small enclave, and sat with her every night until she passed away. He didn't realize that four days running, a few neighbors, returning from nights out drinking had seen him. When Gloris, his mother, was about to take her last breath, she asked the visiting priest to pray for her son. John was there in the room when she told the father that he was a good man, and that he had been turned into a vampire. John confessed to this, in front of his mother and the priest but also to his Aunt Siobhan and her daughter Lydia. Gloris asked for a special prayer to be said over her casket for John, and that the priest promise not to reveal that he had been turned into a vampire."

"Let me guess, George interrupted, the priest did not keep his promise."

"No, he did not keep his promise nor did he keep the secret. Within days after Gloris was buried, he was telling any who would listen. The news quickly spread around town and the family found themselves pitied and whispered about. My grand-mother Lydia wanted to go away with John, but he refused to take her."

"Mitchell was a good man Michael." George said forcefully, but nearly whispering.

Annie was quietly wiping away the tears that were sliding down her face. "Mitchell tried so hard to stop George. It's not fair."

Michael saw George drape his arm around an invisible form.

"One of Gloris' prized possessions was a photo taken of Mitchell and a few comrades in their regimental army suits. He remembered the picture to his Aunt Siobhan, as Gloris was dying, but as much as she searched, she couldn't find it anywhere. Just before my grand-mother Lydia died at the age of 75, one of her neighbors showed it to her and my mother. The priest had stolen it from Gloris' possessions and it had passed down through this neighbor's family all those years. She told her they had been the keepers of the photo, that when they secretly met they discussed Mitchell and passed it around so that everyone would remember and recognize his face. If he ever visited again, they would know he was a demon and were entrusted to stake him."

"My God…" said George.

"My mother always believed that Mitchell was with me. When I was ten years old, she began to be frightened by my looks. When I was 17, we both knew I had to leave her and my sister. Mitchell's been my night-mare and shadow all these many years. Out of the blue, men, I've never seen before, working for a multinational corporation I've never heard of before, offer me the dream job of a life-time. They don't need any credentials, and they don't need any references, they simply walk off the street and offer me, a stranger who they claim has such a powerful reputation in Banking and Finance, the world on a silver platter."

"Wyndham…" George and Annie said together

"I knew that he thought he discovered a new Mitchell by the look on his face. When I shook his hand it was if my life history passed from me to him without a word being spoken. Before you and your family stopped by to visit me, I was already preparing to leave on the 8pm train. I thought if I pretended I was happy with the prospect of a new job, then you all wouldn't ask me any questions."

"And what about Annie, were you going to leave her without a word?"

"I thought if Annie believed I was a re-incarnated Mitchell, her Mitchell, then she would be happy to know he lives on."

"And now…" asked George.

"The next train leaves at 6:00am tomorrow, and I intend on being on it."

"Michael, you can't run forever. Do you really think Wyndham will let you leave for London and carry on with your life?" asked George.

"I can't win George. Whatever plans they have for me as Mitchell's surrogate, I don't plan on finding out. I may go to London or I may go to America. I only know I can't stay here."

Annie picked up Michael's jacket and placed it around his shoulders. He shivered as she whispered in his ear, "You're coming home with us."

To be continued….